Controversial TNZ win
At a glance
Team New Zealand have scored an unlikely win on day three of America’s Cup racing after a late penalty left Artemis stranded with the finish line in sight.
In a back-and-forth battle out on Bermuda’s Great Sound on Monday, the Kiwis looked to be headed for defeat against Nathan Outteridge’s Artemis Racing following a slow turn at the final gate.
That was until the umpires intervened, calling a portstarboard incident on the Swedes much to the relief of Peter Burling’s team as they wrapped up the first round of the qualifying stage with their fourth victory.
Team NZ won by just 0.17 seconds but Burling was confident it was the right call, insisting Artemis did not give them enough room to round the mark.
‘‘We were turning the boat as hard as we could and I think we were pretty lucky not to end up on our side,’’ Burling said.
‘‘When you’re coming in at 40 knots, you need a little bit more room than that.’’
Burling and Outteridge know each other well, with the Aussie and teammate Iain Jensen pipping Burling and Blair Tuke to gold in the 49er class at the London Olympics before the Kiwis reversed the order in Rio last year.
They served up arguably the race of regatta so far, which featured no fewer than nine lead changes.
And they won’t have to wait long for the rematch with the teams going at it again tomorrow.
‘‘We managed to work our way back into it on the final leg after a few handling errors and a few hard shifts,’’ Burling added. ‘‘But both teams sailed a great race and we were fortunate to come away with it at the end.
‘‘That’s what we’re here to do, have great racing like that and that’s how you get better.’’
Errors proved costly for Sweden as they were also called up in the pre-start for crossing the line early.
Outteridge was penalised by two boat-lengths which quickly stretched out to 100m, but an uncharacteristic poor foiling tack by Team NZ allowed Artemis back in it.
The teams exchanged leads in the fourth and fifth legs as both showed serious pace, although Artemis had a clear edge upwind.
There was nothing in it heading into bottom mark of the final leg.
Sweden looked to have done enough for the points as Team NZ again came unstuck at the turn.
But it was the officials who had the final say, leaving the Swedish crew fuming as they were forced to slow down near the line.
The victory left New Zealand second in the standings on four points, one behind Oracle Team USA, who did not race on Tuesday.
In the first race of the day, Sir Ben Ainslie’s woes continued as his British team suffered a 53-second defeat to France, their third-straight loss. There was better news for Dean Barker and Team Japan, though, as they bounced back from back-to-back losses on Monday, beating France by 2m 34s.